Sunday, 31 May 2015

The chairman of the oldest Conservative think tank, the Bow Group, has been suspended for making comments against LGBT rights at a Christian event in Moscow and calling for Conservatives to vote UKIP in the election.

Benjamin Harris-Quinney is a councillor on East Herts District Council and chairman of the influential Conservative Party Bow Group. In the run up to the elections earlier this month he called on eurosceptic Conservatives to vote UKIP in places where the Conservatives couldn't win so the writing was on the wall as far as his future with the Conservative Party was concerned. The discovery of a video of him briefing against gay rights and celebrating the fact that most Conservative MPs voted against gay marriage was the final nail in the coffin. The complaint against him is believed to have been made by radio presenter, political blogger and publisher Iain Dale.

Ending the "free movement of people" - eurospeak for uncontrolled immigration - was supposed to be one of the red lines of David Cameron's renegotiation of our EU membership but a number of public statements by EU officals and leaders has forced him to backtrack. Instead of talking about limiting the number of people who can live and work here, he's now talking about "reforming" the benefits system to delay the point at which the aforementioned unlimited number of people can claim benefits here. And even that has been ruled out by Poland given that £450k a week in child benefit is paid for children living in Poland!

The amount of money paid out in benefits to newly arrived immigrants - and especially child benefit paid for children who don't even live in the country - is an understandable bone of contention but it's a consequence of uncontrolled immigration and it can't be fixed without controlling immigration. Nor does it fix the problem of 9 out of 10 new jobs going to newly arrived immigrants and increasing the number of long term unemployed amongst the existing workforce with all the associated economic and social problems that long term unemployment entails.

Every "demand" that Cameron has made has been flatly refused. He's been told that there will be no treaty change, no limits on immigration, no restrictions on benefits, no end to ever closer union. There is no legal way to "repatriate" powers from the EU without treaty change and he's already been told that there will be no treaty change. The British government's army of propagandists are already spinning like crazy and it's only going to get worse as the referendum gets closer and it becomes harder to conceal the fact that the EU is unreformable.

A jury took less than 2 hours to find Mote guilty of four counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception, three of false accounting, two of fraud, and one each of acquiring criminal property, concealing criminal property and theft.

Mote lied to UKIP during the selection process for the 2004 EU elections, concealing the fact that the DWP were investigating him for fraud which would of course have barred him from holding office in UKIP or standing for election for the party. When he eventually admitted that he was under investigation for fraud he was expelled from the party and sat as an independent MEP until 2009.

Take the view that anyone who has served as deputy mayor should become Mayor whatever party. Bad luck to Tunde #everydayracism

Cllr Graham Snell, the leader of UKIP 13 councillors in Thurrock, has dismissed the lazy accusation of racism and explained that the Conservatives were informed on a number of occasions prior to nominating Cllr Tunde Ojetola that UKIP would not back him due to his repeated hostility toward the party. Rather than select a new candidate, knowing that Cllr Ojetola would fail to be selected, the Conservatives kept telling Cllr Snell that they hadn't selected a candidate and eventually stopped answering his emails.

There was nothing racist about the decision to back Labour's mayoral candidate and it appears that Cllr Ojetola is the victim of a pathetic attempt to give the Conservatives an excuse to call UKIP racist.

The most important policy in Wednesday's Queen's Speech wasn't the EU Referendum Bill, it was the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill which finally marks the end of the English nation.

The British establishment has defiantly held firm on its policy of denying any recognition of the English nation and is now using the increasing demand for an answer to the West Lothian Question to break England up into artificial regions and wipe the country off the map.

The Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill will see local government in England reorganised around city regions with powers and investment sucked out of rural areas and urban areas outside of the sphere of influence of the city regions. Town hall empire builders will be able to choose to dismantle the local government system in large swathes of the country and replace it with a "metro mayor" who will have executive powers over their city region.

There will be very little decentralisation involved in the city region plan with most of their powers being centralised on the city region from local government but there will be very limited powers handed down from the British government to the city regions. Unlike in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland where local government answers to their national governments, the British government will still control English local government and set an agenda that benefits the interests of Big Britishers rather than those of 50m English people.

With its economic and industrial heart ripped out, there will be very little to keep England together and we will become West Midlanders, North Easterners and Bristol City Regioners. Within a generation, English will be replaced with made-up regional identities as the British government, the BBC and the British education system unite to put the final nail in the English coffin.

City regions will never be able to compete against countries on the international stage, they won't even be able to compete against Scotland, Wales and NI within the UK. They will give the illusion of localism and prosperity but it is just centralisation on a regional scale and prosperity for cities at the expense of the rest of the country.

Bahar Mustafa calls white people "white trash" and tweeted using the hashtag #killallwhitemen. She has also banned white people and men from university "diversity" workshops but says that she can't be racist because she's an ethnic minority woman.

Many of the far left fascists had their faces covered with ski masks and scarves and attacked police officers who were trying to keep the peace. A 45 year old man was arrested in connection with violent disorder at a protest on 9th May, a 17 year old was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer during today's anti-democracy protest and another was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and carrying an offensive weapon.

Carswell deserves a big pat on the back for the restraint he showed when one piece of scum stood in his way saying "don't come this way fascist" and then "go on, go on, I'll f**king get ya". If he'd been stood in front of me saying the same thing he'd have ended up on his backside on the pavement.

Cllr Bob Frost is a Conservative councillor for North Deal on Dover District Council. He last hit the headlines in September when a Labour colleague called for more powers for councils to hold rogue councillors to account after Cllr Frost called French people "frogs", black people "jungle bunnies" and asian people "rag heads" and "sons of camel drivers" on Twitter.

Tuesday, 26 May 2015

If the UK liberates itself from the EU, there are many options open to the UK.

Other treaty arrangements with the EU include 'EEA' (European Economic Area') and 'EFTA' (European Free Trade Area). I have a little knowledge of what these other treaty arrangements cover, and some of the bits I do know, I don't like - I dislike them enough that they are no more acceptable than full EU membership.

Further Switserland (the only non EEA member) is also part the EU single market (meaning EU rules apply to all products/services even if produced and sold internally) and a signatory of the Schengen Agreement allowing undocumented movement of people between members (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement)

My Red-Lines include:-

1) UK Border Control
No entry to the UK for foreign nationals unless they have first been given specific permission. And certainly no entry for work or settlement without further qualification.

2) Domestic production/trade to be regulated only by UK domestic law, with no input from external, foreign authorities.
The UK will decide or itself it is wants to limit the power of vaccum cleaners, or sell products in metric or imperial measures etc.

Neither EFTA nor EEA pass either of these tests, so neither is an acceptable alternate should we leave the EU.

The public cannot be asked to vote on a promise that would have to be honoured by all UK governments, all EU commissions and all governments of all EU member states (and the populations of those member states if they require their own referenda), even if those governments/commissions etc change between the promise being made and it being delivered!

To genuinely change the UK's relationship with the EU there must be treaty changes (scrapping most if not all of the Lisbon Treaty/Constitution).

Any 'change' that doesn't require treaty change can be reversed (or 'reinterpreted') by the EU commission at any time.

However there is no way that any serious treaty change could be made in the time that David Camerons's Conservatives have allowed.

A treaty change requires the unanimous consent of all EU members - and some of the members require their own referenda on treaty changes(!).

So, in truth, all that Cameron can offer will be a *promise* of change - and the UK public will go into a referendum voting on whether they really understand what has been promised (how often has a politician said one thing, done the opposite and claimed they didn't 'lie' the public just misunderstood?) and even if they do believe they understand, voting on whether they believe it will ever be delivered (by the UK government, the EU commission and all EU member governments).

For the referendum to be meaningful the treaty changes must be in place, the UK must have its 'new relationship' already in place, and then the public vote on 'in/out'.

The public cannot be asked to vote on a promise that would have to be honoured by all UK governments, all EU commissions and all governments of all EU member states (and the populations of those member states if they require their own referenda), even if those governments/commissions etc change between the promise being made and it being delivered.

France and Germany has agreed to further integrate €urozone countries, making a mockery of David Cameron's demands for an end to the doctrine of ever closer union.

Not only have they gone behind his back and agreed to enhance and accelerate ever closer union, they will be announcing the detail of their deal at the same EU summit Cameron will be using to present his list of renegotiation requests.

Monday, 25 May 2015

The Tories are madly spinning that Dave has put his foot down and shown he's serious about an EU referendum by announcing that only people eligible to vote in parliamentary elections will be allowed to vote in it.

This is a propaganda at its finest because there was no suggestion that citizens of other EU countries would be allowed to vote in the referendum prior to this announcement. In fact, it's a reasonable expectation that only people who are eligible to vote in national elections would be allowed to vote in a national referendum. In one press release the Tories have both created and fixed a problem that didn't exist until it was written!

There is no option to stay in the EU as it is today - The EU is on the fast track to become a singe country. In/Out is a choice to dissolving the UK and becoming a small part of that country, or leaving the EU and the UK continuing as one of the words top 10 independent nations.

The UK is to have an in/out referendum on its EU membership.

These options will be presented as staying in meaning staying as we are vs leaving and undergoing some significant changes.

However this is not the case. What people must be made aware of is where the EU is already heading since the Lisbon Treaty/Constitution was signed. This treaty passed huge powers from EU member states to the government of the EU - the unelected government of the EU - the EU Commission.

The Lisbon treaty has already legally transferred these powers, but they are so wide ranging it will take many years for the EU commission to have all the institutions, systems and people in place to actually take these powers on...

The EU as it stands is already destined to change immensely, change as set out in the Lisbon treaty. The EU is to effectively be a single country with a single government, single army, navy and air force A few changes have been made, a few are being made, but many, many more are planned, agreed and signed up to.

There is no option to stay in the EU as it is today - The EU is on the fast track to become a singe country. In/Out is a choice to dissolving the UK and becoming a small part of that country, or leaving the EU and the UK continuing as one of the words top 10 independent nations.

Saturday, 23 May 2015

We in UKIP Bournemouth East have decided that it is imperative to keep our shop open in Pokesdown to use as a hub for this campaign, but to do this we need funds. One of our members has kindly donated a months rent (£450) which gives us a good start.
Whatever you can donate is going to make a difference. Our bank details are: UKIP Bournemouth East sort: 30-92-02 account no. 02617223. Alternatively cheques made payable to UKIP and addressed to David Hughes, 73 Lowther Rd, Bournemouth BH8 8NW with ref: GBO (Get Britain Out).
Thank you for your support,

I spoke to the local branch in Bournemouth and they are keen for this resource that is already set up etc to be used as a resource for themselves and surrounding branches/areas etc - both for UKIP and the wider campaign to get an 'out' vote in the referendum.

Thursday, 21 May 2015

Having failed to make the coup against Nigel Farage and rift in the party leadership they made up a reality, the Daily Mail are now reporting that UKIP has sacked half its staff because Douglas Carswell won't take the full £650k a year short money the party is entitled to.

The party took on a number of staff on fixed term contracts running to the end of May to provide the party with professional support during the election campaign. Had UKIP won more than one seat in the general election then there may have been jobs for some of those people and they may have had their contracts extended. As it happens, despite securing almost 3.9m votes there is just one UKIP MP so there are no extra jobs for them to do.

It's unfortunate to lose experienced campaigners but they were employed to do a job, they've done the job and now their contract is finished. The fact that Douglas Carswell isn't taking all the short money has no bearing on the number of staff the party needs outside of a campaign or the end date on a staff contract.

Despite promising to cut immigration to below 100k, immigration instead rose by 109k to 318k under the watchful eye of the Tories last year.

The announcements today about a crackdown on illegal immigrants and demands about controlling EU immigration and access to benefit for EU immigrants are just bluster. None of these things can change without treaty changes and treaty changes are off the table.

Cllr Alan Graves says that the council is spending money that it hasn't got at a time that it is sacking staff to cut costs.

I don't understand how a personnel committee chair can sit in front of our staff, knowing they are going to sack them, knowing they are getting extra money

The decision was made to create two new cabinet positions on the council with a special responsibility allowance and to award a special responsibility allowance to the chair of the personnel committee responsible for cutting staff.

Whenever they are able to, UKIP councillors abolish the cabinet system in councils that allow decisions such as this to be taken undemocratically and replace it with the committee system that gives all councillors an equal say on decisions.

Wednesday, 20 May 2015

One of the men who brought the case against the former mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, that saw a special election court remove him from office is taking his fight for democracy further by petitioning for all 17 councillors elected under the now banned Tower Hamlets First Party name removed from office.

Azmal Hussein has petitioned the Electoral Commission to remove the Tower Hamlets First councillors who were elected in the same corrupt election from office and call a by-election. If the Electoral Commission refuses then he intends to go to the High Court to ask a judge to remove them.

The EU promise was that standardisation (the single market) would make selling everywhere in the EU as easy as selling to your neighbour. However what the EU standardisation has done is made selling to your neighbour as complicated as exporting to the other side of the world.

There are three types of business to consider regarding the UK leaving the EU:-

Unlike continental Europe, the UK has a long history of small business and industry - the French even held us in contempt for it, calling us 'a nation of shop keepers' and meaning it as an insult. Like the USA with its numerous 'Mom and Pop' businesses acting as a cheap and easy 'nursery' for small business and startups generating income for the owners, and maybe leading to development into a much larger business.

UK only businesses have to apply full EU red tape to all their transactions - even if selling a product/service to the person next door to them. Small businesses and service companies are hugely impacted by this, business that should be simple requires huge, inappropriate administration, jumping through EU hoops in the name of 'standardisation' or 'the single market'. To start any business in the EU, you have to act like an international company from day one.

Outside the EU all the EU red tape could be scrapped, saving time and money for businesses and consumers/customers - freeing up resources to develop and expand at a sensible rate and simplifying the creation of new business in the UK, creating jobs and opportunities here.

EU only businesses - businesses that aren't purely domestic, so work in several EU countries but not outside the EU. Like domestic businesses, these companies have to comply with the full gamut of EU regulation, to trade with the EU they will have to continue to do so, so for these companies leaving the EU will not benefit them regarding administration. However as they have already jumped through the hoops to do EU trade, they have made an investment that other, new companies may not be able to - so the EU over regulation acts as barrier to entry for competition, in this way they benefit from continued EU membership.

Outside the EU they would still need to comply with EU red-tape to trade with the EU, so that offers no benefit, but to leave would allow UK only business to compete with them without the disadvantage of EU regulations, they may consider this undesirable.

International businesses that trade in the EU and elsewhere are already used to dealing with different regulatory compliance, to them it will make little practical difference whether one particular country is in or out of the EU. The UK's membership (or otherwise) of the EU may make a difference to them in other ways, but that will be purely pragmatic for the individual company.

Danny McCoy told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the UK could become very attractive outside the EU for multinationals based in Ireland and said "I'm not so sure if EU membership would be all that important for Irish multinationals".

He then went on to tell the Irish Times:

Everybody says Britain will lose out by leaving - all based on the assumption that somehow Britain's decision to leaves would be very costly for them.

There's only one concrete example of this kind in the past. That was in relation to Britain's decision to stay out of the euro. Britain was told: "If you don't go into euro, London as a financial capital would be diminished."

This never materialised and the City of London financial market had strengthened in the period since the single currency was introduced.

The media are trying to spin Suzanne Evans' departure as head of policy as being part of a "purge" of plotters against Nigel Farage but she's simply reached the end of her contract.

Evans was employed by the party as head of policy on a four month fixed term contract which comes to an end this month. She hasn't been sacked and she hasn't resigned, she's simply working to the end of her contract.

She has also strongly refuted suggestions that she was involved in a coup attempt against Farage and publicly backed him as leader along with Patrick O'Flynn and Douglas Carswell who the media also accused of plotting against him. The only place this coup existed was on the pages of the papers who quote unnamed "sources" as evidence of a mysterious plot that has defiantly failed to exist despite a week of media hype. Not only has the much talked about coup failed to materialise, there has in fact been almost unanimous support for Farage from the rank and file membership all the way through to the National Executive Council and our MP and MEPs.

Suzanne Evans is staying on as Deputy Chairman of the party, a position that she has held for almost a year. It's a funny purge that leaves the purgee in one of the most senior positions in the party. Speculation in the press that Mark Reckless is to replace Evans when her contract ends next week appears to be just speculation.

Companies leaving the UK after Brindependence provide a fantastic opportunity for their UK workers and management to found new UK companies.

If you work for a company that is threatening to leave an independent UK, start writing your business plan and organising your management buyout now!

I am not a fan of state intervention, but in a transition like this there could be advantages in our transition government providing assistance for these orphaned businesses to keep them on their feet through the transfer while they get re-established as new UK companies.

There will be companies that don't make it, there will be screw ups, there will be fraud! and this all needs to be minimised (if it can't be eradicated). But it is an opportunity not to be missed.

Any transition support must come to an end, it can't be allowed to run indefinitely creating a hodge podge of virtually nationalised businesses, and state assistance can't be allowed to damage genuine private businesses. But this is detail.

Monday, 18 May 2015

The UKIP group on Norfolk County Council successfully abolished the undemocratic cabinet system in 2013 and replaced it with the cabinet system that ensures the views of the majority are represented rather than the biggest minority.

Cllrs Toby Coke, Paul Smyth and Jonathon Childs have all also been elected as chairs and vice chairs of committees.

When asked if the UK should leave an unreformed, JCB Chief Executive, Graeme MacDonald, said:

I think it would be, because I really don’t think it would make a blind bit of difference to trade with Europe. There has been far too much scaremongering about things like jobs. I don’t think it’s in anyone’s interest to stop trade. I don’t think we or Brussels will put up trade barriers.

Lord Bamford, the Chairman of JCB, who has donated £2.6m to the Conservatives in the last 5 years said:

We could negotiate as our own country rather than being one of 28 nations in Brussels as we are today

UKIP received just shy of 3.9m votes in the general election but got just one MP. The SDLP got three MPs elected with less than 100k votes between them. Millions of people have been disenfranchised by the antiquated First Past the Post system which suited Victorian politics but has no legitimacy in today's era of multi-party politics.

Cllr Bob Fahey was greeted with cries of "racist" when he gave a short acceptance speech after being elected, referring to fellow councillor Cllr Rav Thakor as "the Indian" and Cllr Teck Khong as "the Chink".

A complaint was made to the police who visited Cllr Fahey's home but according to Fahey himself they left saying it was "pathetic".

Raheem Kassam, one of the casualties of last week's tussles at the top of the party, has rejoined Breitbart London as Editor in Chief and declared war on what he describes as "the left wing of UKIP".

Patrick O'Flynn led a rebellion last week against Kassam and Matt Richardson, two of Nigel Farage's advisers who he claimed were responsible for making Farage "snarling, thick skinned and aggressive" which saw both of them resign from the party.

Breitbart is well known for its hard right conservative stance and it appears that Kassam's aim was to move UKIP from the centre-right and make it part of the American tea party movement. Whilst this brand of bible belt politics and the confrontational manner of the Republicans might be popular in some parts of the US, it's a turn off to voters here and has increased Nigel Farage's "Marmite factor".

UKIP's core policy of fighting for withdrawal from the EU has brought in members and support from both ends of the political spectrum and accommodating the disparate views of the membership has resulted in a set of policies unique to UKIP that embrace both the left and the right of the party and appeal to everyone from the leafy suburbs of the south east to the northern mining villages. Lurching to the right is going to alienate not only our members and supporters but a big chunk of what is now UKIP's core vote. They might not be the type of people that the tea party approve of but UKIP is perfectly placed to take on both the left and the right.

If Kassam and Richardson were wormtongues trying to hijack UKIP to extend the tea party movement to the UK - and it would appear that that is the case - then we're better off without them, even if it means adding Breitbart to the long list of media publications that are at war with the party. UKIP has a winning formula, we need to hold a steady course and not allow outside influences to steer the party too far to the left or the right.

Saturday, 16 May 2015

I have just sent this to my MP via the excellent http://www.writetothem.com site run by MySociety.org

Dear...,

I write again, on another subject - I apologise for so many letters, I try to keep them concise, but there are many issues with the new government.

I was horrified at the prime ministers statement “For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.".

The essense of Magna Carta is that people will not be interefed with unless they have broken the law - the 800th aniversary of the signing of Magna Carta is currently being celebrated, an aniversary David Cameron has made some play on - but here shows he has not the slightest idea what the document means.

Furhter, while attacking the hard won and long standing principles of Magna Carta, his government are furhter weakening the publics protection from an oppressive the state by proposing to exit the ECHR before any replacement has been agreed.

The ECHR, like Magna Carta primarily exists to protect the public from the excess of the state/government - it can never be right that such constitutional protections can be removed by that state/government without overwhelming, direct and specific agreement of the people (an item among many others in a general election manifesto meets none of these requirements).

The ECHR has many faults in its interpretation and enforcement, but not in the broad principles it sets out.

To remove they principles of ECHR and Magna Carta without overwhelming, direct and specific consent from the public is a tyranical act - I trust this will not happen.

Friday, 15 May 2015

The media are using the minor scuffles at UKIP HQ to try and undermine Nigel Farage. They have invested a lot of time and money buying influence with the old parties and they know that UKIP under Nigel Farage's leadership is the biggest threat to those investments. That's why they were united in attacking UKIP during the election campaign and why they are now united in trying to overthrow him with talk of a coup.

There is no coup.

Under the leadership of Nigel Farage UKIP has gone from a single issue campaign to the undisputed third largest political party in the country. Last year we became the first party in a century other than the Conservative and Labour to win a national election. This year we had our first general election victory and took control of our first local authority.

We owe much of our success to Nigel Farage's leadership and if David Cameron keeps his word and holds a referendum on our membership of the EU in 2017, the victory for the No campaign will be Nigel Farage's crowning glory.

Thursday, 14 May 2015

Douglas Carswell has committed to remaining as a UKIP MP despite a disagreement over whether the party should claim over £3m in short money.

Short money is paid to opposition parties out of the public purse when they get MPs elected to help them provide an effective opposition to the government. Short money is allocated based on the number of MPs and the number of votes secured. With almost 3.9m votes and one MP, UKIP is entitled to around £650k per year.

Carswell has told the Clacton & Frinton Gazette that some staffers had been pushing for him to employ 15 additional staff using the short money and put them into his office. If the number of UKIP MPs reflected the number of votes UKIP received then we'd be looking at about £4m shared between about 80 MPs and Carswell wouldn't have had a problem taking his £50k share. What he isn't happy with is the idea of trying to explain to his constituents why he's taken 10 times his salary to hand over to his party. Instead, he is taking £350k of short money which is still a considerable amount of money.

If there are troublemakers in head office briefing against Carswell as suggested then they need to be hunted down and disciplined. These are the sort of games the old parties play, we don't need these distractions. Carswell is the only UKIP MP, it's his decision if the party gets short money and how much of it we accept. His decision should be respected.

So Nigel Farage has resigned as leader and come back into the post for the second time in his UKIP career. But what does it mean for UKIP?

I did say before the election that he hadn't ruled out a return as leader if he failed to get elected as MP for Thurrock South but I didn't expect his return to be quite so soon. To be honest, I expected him to resign, wait and see who looked a likely replacement and then put himself forward if he wasn't happy with his potential successor. I very much doubt that the manner of his return was pre-planned but it does look somewhat cynical.

There is no doubt that Farage is a huge asset to UKIP and a big chunk of the party's membership and supporters are thanks to his reputation and presence but he's also the far left bogeyman and his gradual slide to the political centre is never going to be enough to stop the hate cult created by trade union sockpuppets. UKIP isn't Cuba or North Korea or Rotherham, we don't have leaders for life. One day he will resign and he won't be convinced to do it again.

We have some excellent people in the party who could take over as leader tomorrow and UKIP would continue to thrive. Part of me says let them have a go, part of me says it's too soon and I know that many members I've spoken to have had the same thoughts. Very few people actually want Farage to step down but the idea of him not being leader any more not being unthinkable shows how much the party has grown.

Nigel Farage is the most successful leader the party has had and he will continue to bring the party success in the future. We now need to get on with the important business of next year's local elections and then the local elections and possible EU referendum in 2017.

Tuesday, 12 May 2015

Just been watching BBC's Newnight with Evan Davies pretending to cover the EU in/out referendum issue.

The setup was so obvious its hard to know where to begin, but I'll run through it...

They had three guest to give a (supposedly) 'balanced' view one was an EUphile MEP from the EUphile Green party, one was an EUphile 'right on' UK business owner, one was a sopping wet Consevative who backs David Camerons Conservative 'try to renegotiate then stay in regardless' policy.

So no 'better off out' or UKIP kind of coverage at all.

They pretended to discuss the issue, but really only covered 'what is up for renegotiation, and how will you use this to trick the UK public into voting to say in?'.

What this made absolutely crystal clear is that the Cameron/BBC agenda is to focus on the 'renegotiation' ensuring the question of 'leaving' is kept firmly smothered and silenced. The details of the 'renegotiation' will be covered in minute detail ensuring there is no time/space for any other consideration (consideration such as 'leaving') - this will last as long as possible, preferably right up to the dawn of the referendum.

Once the negotiations are complete and the plans for the referendum are underway, it will not be presented as an 'in/out' referendum but as a 'look what the EU have offered us, can we really walk away from them when they have tried so hard' referendum.

Fortunately with social media we, the plebs, have a back channel to discuss this without the filter/prism of the state/bbc interfering. Thank god for the internet.

It is pretty much day one of the campaign, and the enemies of the UK have shown their hand - we must use this to take the shirt off their back - we will only get one chance at this and can't risk failure.

There are *sales* campaigns, and there are *education* campaigns - they are very different things.

Sales campaigns persuade people to 'buy' something based on being impressed by other people who are buying the product (celeb endorsement).

Education campaigns set out information clearly and verifiable - knowing that people will buy the thing if it makes sense to do so.

Where there is a time limit, you will always end up with a tail of a sales campaign to hoover up the final undecided, uneducated - but where time is available, an education campaign will not only convince people irrevocably to one conclusion, but those people will become ambassadors for the cause too.

Traditionally the 'great and good' approach to the referendum campaign would select the 'big guns' on each side to lead the campaign - expecting to impress the plebs into deferring to the 'great and good' and following the side with the most impressive lineup, and voting as they are told.

However, this 'great and good' approach is half a century out of date.

Wide ranging media access today means the 'big guns' are already well known to the plebs, anyone who could be convinced by them probably already has been... They will add almost nothing to gaining votes for their 'side'.

The big guns are needed to be there in the background - but the real work of gaining new votes will be done by educating individuals who are perfectly capable of making a rational choice, but don't have the information available (and they *know* they don't have it) to make an educated/informed decision.

Yes, Farage, Hannan etc... they will be there on the out side. On the other side Cameron and other huge names/job-titles. The out campaign probably can't trump the people on the 'in' side - many very rich/famous people make a lot of money from the EU - its the mass of plebs, those who pay the price of our EU membership that need to be reached and educated - so they can ignore the 'pizazz' of the sales pitch by the rich, famous supporters of 'in' and vote in an informed way for their (and the countries) own best interest.

Need to get going - and not rely on the supposed 'great and good' to do the job for us...

Monday, 11 May 2015

I have written a letter ready to go to my MP (via https://www.writetothem.com/) as soon as he is sworn back in... you may like to write to yours...

Dear ,

Congratulations on your re-election.

I am pleased that the UK has a majority government with a manifesto commitment to an 'in/out' referendum on the UK's membership of EU by the end of 2017.

I understand that the option of staying 'in' will not mean staying in on the current terms of membership, but on a new basis which will be negotiated prior to the referendum.

I further understand one of the issues to be negotiated relates to the free movement of people within the EU, or migration. With particular concern regarding the pressure that increased numbers of people place on the UK's infrastructure, such as Schools, Housing, Health, Transport, Energy, Security etc. and the additional pressure on these things, and on communities, that comes from managing migrants with different languages, practices and cultures.

Regarding these additional numbers, I believe the negotiation being considered is not to limit numbers but to limit (maybe just for a period) the facilities, services and resources that migrants have access to when arriving in the UK.

If this is correct, that numbers are not to be controlled, it seems to miss the issues that need to addressed - someone arriving in the UK cannot be left to sleep on the streets without shelter, food, medical care or schools for their children - once someone is in the UK, these are basic essentials that will have to be provided.

Can you assure me that the negotiations will not make the error of considering withholding access to such services as possible, let alone as equivalent to controlling access to the UK in the first place?

Sunday, 10 May 2015

Been listening to what is being said about migration - particularly on the BBC, usually the first hint of the line that the government will be pushing.

Brits are sick of open door migration - Labour and Conservatives now recognise this. (Previously I would have said 'LibLabCon' but Lib are irrelevant now).

You'll know UKIP propose a points based migration system - if the UK don't want/need a migrant, they can't come here.

However the EU have said that freedom of movement is not negotiable... So what Cameron wants to spin is that people *are* happy for the UK having open door migration, as long as people arriving here don't have access to all UK benefits...

This is simply a lie. Having migrants in the UK with no money, housing, healthcare will mean sick, starving migrants sleeping on our streets... if someone is allowed to enter the UK then there is little choice but to give them food, shelter and healthcare - otherwise they will pollute our cities and streets.

So this lie needs to be killed at birth - the public must make clear that it is not 'benefits for unwanted migrants' that matter, what matters is unwanted migrants arriving at all.

Saturday, 9 May 2015

The dust is settling on Thursday's elections and it's becoming increasingly obvious that the first past the post system has got to change.

It is absolutely indefensible that 1 in 8 votes went to UKIP yet there will only be one UKIP MP taking the oath of allegiance next week when the SDLP will have three MPs after securing just 2.57% of the number of votes UKIP did and the SNP will have 56 MPs from two and a half times fewer votes.

Party

Votes

%

MPs

Votes per MP

Conservative

11,334,920

36.9%

331

34,244

Labour

9,344,328

30.4%

232

40,277

UKIP

3,881,129

12.6%

1

3,881,129

Lib Dem

2,415,888

7.9%

8

301,986

SNP

1,454,436

4.7%

56

25,972

Green

1,181,694

3.7%

1

1,181,694

DUP

184,260

0.6%

8

23,033

Plaid

181,694

0.6%

3

60,566

UUP

114,935

0.4%

2

57,468

SDLP

99,809

0.3%

3

33,270

If the other parties had to secure as many votes per MP as UKIP did they would still be counting the 2.5bn votes for the foreseeable future but the House of Commons would be pretty empty if their MPs cost the same number of votes as UKIP's did with just 7 MPs sitting on the famous green benches.

Party

UKIP votes needed for MPs

MPs by UKIP votes

Conservative

1,284,653,699.00

3

Labour

900,421,928.00

2

UKIP

3,881,129.00

1

Lib Dem

31,049,032.00

1

SNP

217,343,224.00

0

Green

3,881,129.00

0

DUP

31,049,032.00

0

Plaid

11,643,387.00

0

UUP

7,762,258.00

0

SDLP

11,643,387.00

0

First past the post just isn't working, it is disenfranchising millions of voters. It's hard to calculate how many MPs each of the parties would have got under a system of proportional representation but as a rough guide by allocating MPs by vote share things would have been a little more balanced.

Party

MPs under PR

Conservative

242

Labour

200

UKIP

83

Lib Dem

52

SNP

31

Green

25

DUP

4

Plaid

4

UUP

2

SDLP

2

UKIP should join the Electoral Reform Society's campaign for electoral reform not out of self-interest but the national interest. The electoral system we have now is a sham. It's not democracy, it's a shamocracy. If we are to have a government that represents everybody and not the biggest minority then we need some form of proportional representation.

UKIP have taken control of Thanet District Council, making it the first UKIP-controlled local authority.

The landslide victory has seen 33 UKIP councillors elected to Thanet District Council compared to just 18 Conservatives, 4 Labour and one independent. This means that the council will now have a UKIP leader and cabinet until the committee system can be reinstated, giving the opposition Labour, Conservative and independent councillors a fair share of the decision making.

The far left extremist Green councillor, Ian Driver, who spent more time organising anti-UKIP protests than he did being a councillor now has more time to devote the cause after losing his seat to UKIP councillors Janet Falcon, Sarah Larkins and Hunter Stummer-Schmertzing.

Prior to Thursday's elections, the political balance of the council was very different. Labour controlled the council with 26 councillors, the Conservatives were a close second with 22, UKIP had 2 councillors and there were 6 independent or unaffiliated councillors.

Friday, 8 May 2015

The election is all but over and the results are bitterly disappointing for UKIP.

But let's be clear: the results don't mean we've failed in this election, we are (again) victims of a broken system.

The SNP have routed Labour and the Lib Dems from Scotland, taking 56 of the 59 seats north of the border. But they've done this with a mere 5% of the vote compared to the 15% or so that UKIP will finish on with one or two MPs.

The good news is that Douglas Carswell has held his Clacton seat, albeit with a reduced majority, but disappointingly Mark Reckless has lost his seat to the Tories. Almost all of UKIP's target seats have been declared and Labour or the Conservatives have won them so far much to the surprise of not only the candidates involved but commentators on both sides of the political spectrum.

We still have Thanet South to wait for where Nigel Farage presents our best hope of coming out of the election with two MPs but it's far from certain. If he loses he has pledged to stand down as leader but crucially hasn't pledged not to stand for re-election to get a fresh mandate to lead the party.

We'll have more analysis later in the day after the bulk of the council seats have been declared but our message to supporters is that 2.5m votes in a general election is not a failure. Take your disappointment and anger at the broken system that has disenfranchised 1 in 7 voters and use it to motivate you to build on the party's success and bring about future victories.

This is the most important, unpredictable election in living memory. The polls show that neither the Conservatives nor Labour can win a majority so UKIP, as the next biggest party in the polls, could have an important part to play in deciding who runs the country and on what terms.

Neither the Conservatives nor Labour can win the election so don't waste your vote, help make UKIP strong enough to hold the balance of power and bring some honesty to Westminster.

This morning listening to BBC Radio 4 today, I heard a UKIP based headline and was slightly optimistic.

A Conservative had left the Conservative party because he hated the Tory candidate - who had Tamil heritage. This ex-Conservative Had managed to join UKIP and become a UKIP candidate (oops).

This bloke was stewarding at an event that was part of Nigel Farage's (UKIP's leader) election campaign, being a high profile event the UKIP hating, EU, Labour, Socialist loving Daily Mirror had undercover reporters there looking for dirt - and on this occasion found some, with the long standing enemy of the Tory candidate spilling his bile and doing so while 'on duty' as a UKIP steward.

The ex-Conservatives rant against his long standing 'enemy' included emphasising how much he disliked the thought of the (racial minority) candidate ever becoming Prime Minister - by saying he felt so strongly he would 'personally put a bullet between [the tory candidates] eyes if he ever became Prime Minister'.

So why was I 'optimistic'? Because while the Daily Mirror headline was along the lines 'UKIP Candidate Threatens to Shoot Opponent', the BBC skipped the negative spin of pretending it was a 'threat'. The BBC headline was that the Candidate had 'said he would shoot...' which is more accurate and was unexpected from the Bias BBC.

However the order of coverage of the Election by Radio 4 Today was as follows (now, remember UKIP are officially a 'major party' along side LibLabCon)

1) UKIP suspend a Candidate
2) Labour Leader last day campaigning
3) Conservative Leader last day campaigning
4) Lib Dem Leader last day campaigning
5) SNP (a minor party - expecting only around 1 million votes)
6) UKIP's last day campaigning
7) Green party

See what they did there? Negative UKIP coverage, followed by all the other major parties, then off to Scotland for their minor party, before coming back to cover UKIP (the other major party) along side with the minor national parties.

Seems the BBC know they are in trouble, and judgement is coming, but even now can't bring themselves to offer fair/balanced coverage.

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

Mark Smith disturbed five men at around 11pm yesterday and after an exchange of words they drove off in two cars. They returned shortly afterwards and when he confronted them again he was punched in the face and kicked around the floor.

If you have any information on the violent scum who would kick a 49 year old man around his garden for stopping them causing criminal damage on his property then Dorset Police would like to hear from you.

On Thursday, Britain will vote in the closest General Election for a generation. The days when our collective fates were parcelled up between the old order of Conservative and Labour are gone. They will never return, for the ground has irrevocably shifted. No party has done more to churn the landscape of British politics than Ukip.

Once it seemed that the faint whispers of this grassroots movement would remain forever relegated to the fringes of society.

If they were heard at all they were dismissed by a high-handed establishment, being branded “fruitcakes” and “clowns”.

Yet the Ukip message resonated with too many voters to be ignored. Suddenly, the name-calling stopped. Ukip has forced the Tories to become more Conservative. It also stands for the working class who do not wish to be represented by career politicians of Ed Miliband’s ilk.

In some quarters it has already been labelled “the new Labour Party”.

To understand its broad appeal simply consider its commonsense messages.

Benjamin Harris-Quinney said that "few in the Conservative Party will acknowledge the reality" that the Conservatives are unlikely to get a majority and called on Conservatives to vote UKIP "who are best placed to beat Labour in many areas".

In response, the Tories have rolled out three former ministers and an MEP to tell Conservatives to vote Conservative at all costs, even if it means handing Labour a victory.

Monday, 4 May 2015

Ed Miliband has commissioned a stone tablet with his 6 commandments that he says he's going to put in the rose garden at 10 Downing Street.

Unfortunately for Ed he's got a couple of obstacles in the way - first he's got to win the election and then he's got to convince Westminster City Council to grant planning permission for it which they almost certainly won't.

Regardless of the outcome of the election or the decision of Westminster City Council's planning committee, the Ed Stone as it's been nicknamed has provided many trolling opportunities. Here are some of the favourites so far ...

Saturday, 2 May 2015

Great pictures from Guido of Tom Watson MP, Liam Byrne MP, Jack Dromey MP and Siôn Simon MEP addressing a meeting in Hodge Hill ... complete with segregated male and female sections to pander to the medieval views of some of the guests.

I wonder if Harriet Harperson was outside with the pink minibus preaching to the women about equal rights while they filed in 3 paces behind their men.

Richard Garvie attended a hustings at Wellingborough School and allegedly sent a message to the pupil afterwards asking if she was "ready for bed". According to the Daily Mail, the girl's boyfriend saw the message and the school were informed who then called in the police.